AICE Media Studies

The September Issue was an interesting documentary. It displayed the process of creating a magazine with a real example. It was cool to see the things we are learning about in class actually being used. It also allowed me to visualize how I can make my flat plans for school more realistic. For me the most interesting part was the devotement of the magazine. Showing the process of selecting photos, double checking, and reselecting shows how meticulous you need to be when publishing a magazine. It was important to look at the magazine as a whole as well as one page or one set of pages at a time.

I started by coming up with an overall idea of a story that I thought would be fun to tell in a movie format. I settled on the launch of a spaceship because it seemed fun. I started with an opening shot that shows the whole spaceship and the main characters. A zoom into the next shot will Illustrate the size of the spaceship. Once on the main bridge, the overhead view shows the quick pace they are keeping while being asked many questions.  The next shot is of them talking through a microphone to people outside the ship. They then get ready to launch and a switch flipping montage ensues. This gives the viewer the idea of how much preparation it takes to launch the ship.  The camera then switches to the control room where many people sit busily working on computers and one important person stands in the back. This separation portrays his importance. He counts down from 10, building suspense, and says "Launch!" On the next scene as the spaceship takes off the ground and a massiv...

  I posted comments on several blogs. Unfortunately, I didn't record which blogs were commented on so I cannot say which ones they were. However, all the stories I saw were quite clear stating the story with only a few pictures. Most of the posts I visited involved small tragedies, like falling down the stairs, running into a pole, etc. All were very similar. When the story used a Point of View shot, I felt more connected to the character. I felt a similar feeling with the over the shoulder shot. It gave perspective on how the character is viewing the world.

     When I started the magazine I thought of what a nondescript magazine would look like to model my magazine off of. First, I started on the cover and added the masthead. To follow I placed the cover line and pull quote in their respective areas. Once the cover was done, I moved on to the inside of the magazine.  For the table of contents, I first placed the list of articles and page numbers. Then I added some images and pull quotes to fill the page. Diving deeper into the magazine, I started out with all article space and then broke it up. I added a header, and then a head. I split the article space into columns. I divided that up using  pictures, pull quotes and sub articles. To add further detail I included some captions to some pictures and more pull quotes and images to break up the article space.

  Image 1 Image 2 Image 3 The story displayed is of a student walking into a pole. I came up with the idea for the story by not thinking while walking and I almost walked into a pole. I believe it is a magnificent piece. I shot the first shot full body and from the eye level of the character. The second image is taken over the shoulder and, I believe, displays the character's rapture and focus on his phone. The last image is again a full bodied shot because it was the best way to display him walking into a pole.

       Magazine publication seems uninteresting to me. It seems like it is a medium that is going to become irrelevant.  Many of my peers do not buy magazines and neither do I. My mom loves magazines but it will be a media source that will become obsolete.  Digital magazines are the wave of the future but will use a different format.   Creating a magazine is not something I want to do. I'm not a big fan of the blend of writing and the hyper focus of selecting pictures. I would prefer to focus more on video production. But, I will find out. I'm sure I will have more than one magazine assignment for this class.  That will be able to give me a feel for the project.

     The parts of creating a film that interest me are the story and plot building of the film. I also like to explore how the film was created and what is happening in the story. I think the plot is the most important part of the film because the entire film is built upon it. It seems interesting. How these events are conveyed are interesting as well. But the most intriguing thing is fleshing out an entire world, or city, or place seems.. I am excited to learn more about this throughout this class.